FarmVille freak: Bulgarian politician fired for farming on the job

A Bulgarian politician was just voted out of office -- because he was busted milking one too many virtual cows while on the job. After repeated warnings, the council member for the Bulgarian city Plovdiv was removed from office with a vote of 20-19.

From the initial report:

"The councilors were first detected playing Farmville two weeks ago during the debates for Plovdiv's 2010 budget.

The discovery was made by the Chair of the Council, Ilko Iliev, who reacted strongly scolding the eager Internet farmers. However, his reaction was to no avail, as the dedicated councilors continued developing their Facebook farms during the City Council meetings, local media have reported.

They were aided in this laudable endeavor by the wireless Internet network established as part of a recent all-out repair of the City Hall building worth BGN 2 M. The Plovdiv Municipality also recently purchased powerful brand-new laptops for all its 51 councilors.

However, the real scandal erupted during Thursday's meeting of the City Council when the most persistent Farmville enthusiast, Dimitar Kerin from the nationalist party Ataka, was voted out of the committee he was part of because of his Facebook addiction.

The proposal to remove Kerin from his respective municipal committee came from Todor Hristov, a former member of Kerin's party, who has argued that Kerin "needs more time for his virtual farm."

After the vote results, the ousted councilor could only say that he was only one of several who were addicted to farming. Also from the original report:

"He said he had reached only Level 40, whereas Daniela Zhelyazkova, a councilor from the rightist Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party, was already at Level 46."

We see all of this as further proof that virtual farming 1) is addictive 2) appeals to every stripe of individual, from homebound Moms, high school students to local politicians. Our advice? FarmVille, just like everything else, is best done in moderation.